BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Heavy snow blanketed Romania and
Bulgaria on Thursday, cutting power to hundreds of towns and
villages, blocking roads and forcing Bucharest's two airports
and some Black Sea ports to close.

Meteorologists said the snow, which had been falling for
two days, was expected to continue throughout Romania until
late on Thursday, with temperatures expected to fall as low as
minus 16 degrees Celsius (3 degrees Fahrenheit).

After that, further snow was forecast only for the south.

The customs post at Giurgiu on the Danube river border with
Bulgaria was closed and the Foreign Ministry said 1,300
Romanian tourists were stranded in the neighboring country
because of the weather.

ADVERTISEMENT

In Bulgaria, two days of heavy snow and high winds cut
electricity supplies to more than 300 towns and villages, the
country's Disaster and Emergency Ministry said. More than 30
villages were without supplies of drinking water.

Several municipalities in northern and southern Bulgaria
declared a state of emergency and the army was called in to
help rescue stranded motorists and trucks and clear blocked
roads.

In Romania, television showed traffic jams on snow-covered
roads and blocked trains.

In Bucharest, the mayor appealed to residents to help to
clear a layer of up to 50 cm (20 inches) of snow and use public
transport rather than private cars.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest and Anna Mudeva in
Sofia; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)